Abstract:

Films are one of the most attractive learning tools for the younger generation. Film education is part of the development of visual literacy which develops the skills to “read”, critically evaluate and create visual information. In this article, film education is understood not only as a cognition of a specific visual art, but also as an attractive aid that can supplement and enrich formal and non-formal education organized by teachers in other fields.
The research problem is based on the assumption that despite the fact that cinema and television have long been an integral part of the daily life of the majority of society, organisers and pedagogues in today’s education system still rarely tend to exploit this public interest for educational purposes. However, in response to changes in society and to ensure that the education system meets the needs of modern society, it is necessary to bring the education system closer to the interests of learners and their daily lives, and to initiate and deepen research on self-directed learning through films.
The article aims to explore school students’ views on the expression and quality aspects of self-directed learning through films in education institutions.
Research methodology. After carrying out analysis of scientific literature on characteristics of informal education and application of films in education process, a research instrument, i.e. a closed-type questionnaire, was designed. The study was conducted in several stages: the initial study was carried out in 2017 November – March of 2018 (the study involved 400 students of 7–10 grades from Vilnius city comprehensive education schools), following a pilto investigation, re-survey which involved 413 students of 7–10 grades; the research was concluded in April–May of 2021 to compare data changes. The research data was processed by employing SPSS Statistics software package to calculate the mean of quantitative data, non-parametric criterion The McNemar Test.
The results of the study revealed that self-directed learning influences the overall learning process and learning effectiveness of students. Students’ learning from films can take place both through creating them and conscious examination and going deeper into the content of films. Properly prepared and selected films render information, stories, opinions, and images that shape students’ opinions and worldviews. Present-day school students tend to find out many things about themselves as personalities and to gain deep knowledge on the surrounding world, while discovering new hobbies, acquiring new knowledge, skills while learning from films. Films become an excellent tool in educational process, teaching the characteristics of communication with people and certain norms of behaviour. It has been revealed that films help to overcome fear and discover one’s vocation. At the same time, it is a tool that helps students to break away from bad thoughts and the usual environment, allows them to return to memories and gives them an opportunity to dream. It has been revealed that present-day school students agree that the environment of films helps to change the quality of life and get to know people’s lives, to understand the relationships of the surrounding people better more than those who participated in investigation in 2017. Informal learning through films takes place in students’ daily lives when an independent, usually unplanned process of learning stimulates their development.

Keywords:

Self-directed learning, film education, general education institutions, Lithuania.